This invention relates generally to the field of athletic equipment, and more particularly to an ergonomic fielding glove to be used in sports such as baseball, softball or the like.
Traditional four finger and three finger baseball or softball fielding gloves are designed along the form of an open hand. The glove is made with an outer shell and an inner compartment that contains the hand and positions it within the glove with the fingers extending into the finger slots of the outer shell. If you remove the glove from the hand, and view the hand as it was positioned in the glove, the thumb of the hand is rotated forward towards the palm at approximately 45 degrees from the plane of the hand and fingers. The fourth finger is also drawn forward slightly, positioned so that the thumb and fourth finger, when drawn towards each other, act to close the outer, vertical edges of the glove. The first, second and third fingers of the hand within the glove can close down around a ball, with a small amount of force but have little effect on the actual closing of the glove's outer vertical edges. The action of closing the glove's outer vertical edges, seals the ball inside the glove, after it is caught. This action is similar to closing a bare hand around a round object. The thumb and fourth finger close towards each other around the outside of the ball, the three fingers between the thumb and fourth finger close over the top. This limits the main force of closure to the thumb and the fourth, or smallest finger.
The positioning of the hand within the previously designed three or four fingered baseball/softball fielding gloves, overall, forms a pocket in the palm of the hand. Within the glove the palm of the hand is centered in the pocket of the glove. Between the valley of the thumb slot and index or first finger slot of the outer shell of the glove is the web. The fixed angle between the thumb and index finger within the outer shell of the glove is approximately 55 degrees in a traditional baseball/softball fielding glove.
In these previous fielding glove designs, the only surface area of the glove where the hand is not exposed to the force of the ball striking it is the web and the extended length of each of the glove's fingers. The palm of the glove and the web are the area where most of the balls are caught within the glove. The ball is either caught entirely in the pocket, or strikes the pocket and glances up into the web, or can be caught entirely in the web. A high percentage of time the ball strikes the pocket, and consequently the palm of the hand and fingers. Players wearing a previously designed glove frequently experience bruises, swelling, pain, and in some cases more serious damage from the impact of the ball striking the glove in the pocket area. Fielders wearing these previously designed gloves often removed their index finger from within the index finger slot and placed it outside the glove, against the back of the index finger slot, to put a little more padding between their finger and the impact of the ball striking the glove. Eventually manufacturers began cutting a hole in the back of the index finger slot to accommodate removal of the index finger from within the slot. Various padded inserts have been used to try to reduce the impact of a ball striking the pocket, and consequently the palm of the hand.